


Dead Inside

by LauraB1983NL



Series: Winters War [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Anxiety, Belgium (Country), Character Death, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fanfiction, Inhumans (Marvel), Marvel Universe, Multi, Mutant Powers, No Timeline, Original Character Death(s), Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, Terrigen Crystals (Marvel), Terrigenesis (Marvel), Torture, friday - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-09-27 03:08:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20400679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LauraB1983NL/pseuds/LauraB1983NL
Summary: Julias's home life with a dead mother and an abusive father leads her to confide solely in two new exchange students Peter Parker and Ned Leeds. But soon she discovers a secret about them that is more dangerous than she thought.And an accident may alter her life forever.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel to the series!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!

He stood up from his chair to pour another glass of whiskey. When he had his drink, he walked back to his chair and took a seat. The TV showed a news item about a HYDRA attack somewhere in the world. Julien Beckers raised up his glass.  
  
"Hail HYDRA," he whispered joyfully, taking a sip.  
  
His wife entered the living room with a basket in her arms, filled with clean laundry. She glanced at the mini bar and saw the almost empty bottle of whiskey. She put the basket on the dinner table, walked over to the bar and took the bottle in her hand. She walked with it to her husband and stood in between him and the TV.  
  
"Wilma, please. I'm watching the news."  
  
She showed him the bottle. "I bought this bottle last Tuesday."  
  
"So?"  
  
She sighed and got irritated. "Julien, it's almost empty!" He shrugged his shoulders. "You drank this whole bottle empty in nearly two days!"  
  
"We have booked another success and I want to celebrate it!" Julien spat back, also slightly irritated.  
  
Wilma shook her head as she walked way. Roughly, she placed the bottle back on the bar. Out of a fitted wardrobe she took an iron board and placed it nearby the basket full of laundry.  
"You know, Julien, if it's up to you, you have something to celebrate EVERY DAY!" she said angrily as she plugged in the iron.  
  
Upstairs in her room, Julia tried to do her homework. But she couldn't concentrate while her parents were having another fight. She sat at her desk with her face in her hands, annoyed.  
  
"Yes, I have something to celebrate every day, because I am happy," she heard her father screaming at her mother.  
  
"I understand you want to celebrate your life, but your drinking behavior is out of control!"  
  
Julia released an annoyed sigh and stood up from her seat.  
  
"I have it perfectly under control, Wilma!"  
  
She stood at the top of the stairs and started screaming, "Shut up! I can't study!"

  
After that she went back into her room and slammed the door shut. She dropped herself back into her chair, took her math book in her hands and started studying again.  
Few moments later, her door rushed open. Quickly she turned around, but before she could see who busted into her room she had been grabbed by her blond hair and been thrown on her bed. Before she knew it, she got slapped in the face. After the slap she hid her face in her hands and closed her eyes while she feared for a second slap.  
  
"This also goes for you, this is me celebrating!" her father yelled at her. Then he left her room, left her on her bed.  
  
Slowly she removed her hands from her face and looked up. An empty room with the door open. She stood up and closed her bedroom door. She turned around, leaned against the door and sank to the ground. She sighed while tears rolled over her cheeks.  
How come her father became in five years' time, an abusive drunk? Did she do something wrong? Maybe her mother did something wrong? She didn't know. Would she ever know?  
Guess not, because every time her mother confronted him a fight started followed by abusive actions. With a slight bounce she placed her head against the door. Slowly she went into a trance as she stared at a wall.  


* * *

  
  
He walked up to her as she was busy at her locker.  
  
"Hey," he greeted, friendly. "Everything okay?"  
  
"Not really," she mumbled back.  
  
"You've missed English classes. You never miss classes. Did something happen?" Julia closed her locker and looked at her classmate. He was shocked to see the dark circles underneath her eyes and how tired she looked. "Holy crap!"  
  
She sighed, as they started to walk to their next class.

"My parents had a fight, told them to shut up because I was working on my math homework. I remembered my father busted in my room." She shrugged her shoulders. "Next thing I could remember was me sitting on the floor at 4am." She looked at the young boy. "I was so scared, Peter, I couldn't sleep."  
  
Peter looked at her while he felt sorry for her.

"Something I can do for you?" Julia shook her head as she looked away from him. "Well if you want to talk, I'll be here for you."  
  
She huffed a smile and stopped in front of him.

"You have no idea how many times I've heard that," she said slightly irritated. "And you know what? When I finally had the guts to go to a person who said the same thing, they dropped me like a brick. Countless amount of people did that to me, including my damned parents." She walked off as fast as she could, left Peter behind who stood still in shock.  
  
While she hid in the toilets, she cried.

"Why am I pushing people away from me?" she sobbed, silently.

Her cellphone went off, but she remained sitting on the floor, knees against her chest and leaned her head against the wall. The phone stopped ringing. A moment later a bleep came out of the pocket of her jeans. She sighed and decided to take her cellphone. She moved it out of the pocket. She had message from her voicemail inbox. She opened it and listened to the message.  
While she listened, her eyes grew wide and shock took over her mind.  


* * *

  
Peter laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling. His mind was at Julia's and wondered why she got so angry. Then he remembered something and sat up.  
  
"Hey, Ned." His friend looked up from his laptop. "If you have anxiety issues, do you suffer from mood swings?"  
  
"I'll Google that." He went to the site and searched for information. "Let me see."  
  
Peter stood up from his bed and took a seat across his friend.  
  
"Most people with generalized anxiety disorder report feeling highly irritable, especially when their anxiety is at its peak," he reads aloud. Ned looked at Peter, who nodded his head slowly.  
  
"Makes sense," Peter said.  
  
"Something happened?" Ned asked curious.  
  
Peter sighed. "Julia snapped at me out of the blue when I offered her help."  
  
Ned raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Mr. Stark did the same to me a few times."  
  
His eyebrows went higher.  
  
Peter looked at him. "Don't look at me like that."  
  
"Oh sorry," Ned apologized and relaxed his face. "Can't you ask him about it?"  
  
Peter stared at the ground. Then he shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea. Maybe it's better to leave Julia alone for a few days."  


* * *

  
  
Alone in a room, Julia stared out of the window. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. More than an hour ago she had heard that her mother passed away, after being found unconscious earlier the day. She heard her father walking into the room. She looked at him through the reflection of the window. He looked at her back, with his hands in the pockets of his trousers. He sighed.

  
"I spoke with insurance people." Julia didn't respond. "The funeral has been arranged." She looked away from him and stared at the streets, five floors below the window. "We're going home," she heard her father. "Do you want to say goodbye to mom? You haven't seen her yet."  
  
"No," she mumbled.  
  
"Come, it's the best for you."  
  
"No."  
  
Suddenly she felt his hands on her shoulders. Her body froze in fear. She felt herself being turned around and pushed to the door. In the hallway she saw the entrance to the room where her mother was. Panic bloomed inside her body.  
  
"No, I don't want to!"  
  
But her father didn't listen and kept taking her to the room where their loved one was. In the doorway she already saw a tiny glimpse of her mother. Quickly she turned around and hid her face in her hands.  
  
"I'm scared," she admitted.  
  
"There's nothing scary about this. She is sleeping," her father said, as he pulled her off him and turned her around. "Just look."  
  
Her view was blurry by the tears in her eyes. Her heart was pounding like a maniac in her chest. Through her tears she saw her mother, in a bed. Arms along her side, eyes closed, her dark blond hair along her face and shoulders. She looked peacefully asleep, but Julia knew she would never wake up again. Julia's breathing became fast and heavy. She managed to pull herself out of her father's grip and ran through the hallway. In the distance she noticed the toilets.  
She ran into one, locked the door and sank to the ground. She was still breathing fast and heavy as she burst into crying. Knees against her chest and her head laid on her knees. A moment later she looked up shocked when somebody knocked on the toilet door.  
  
"Julia? Come. We're going home," she heard her father saying.  
  
Julien Beckers drove his car home. Julia laid on the backseat, hid herself underneath the hoodie of her sweater. He stopped the car when they arrived their home. He got out of the car first, walked up to their home and opened the front door. Quickly Julia opened the door of the car, ran to the front door and rushed going upstairs. She went into her room, closed and locked her door. With her forehead she leaned against it, crying.  
  
A few days later, the funeral happened. The room was filled with people. Julia and her father sat in the first row. In front of them was a black coffin surrounded with white and pink flowers. On the coffin was a framed picture of their loved one. Meat Loaf's song 'Two out of Three Ain't Bad' played out of the speakers. Julia stared at the flowers while tears rolled down her cheeks. She plucked from a paper handkerchief which she held firmly. The music faded out and a moment later a man from the funeral home went to the microphone.  
  
"Finally, I give the opportunity to Julien Beckers to say some words." He nodded at him and left the small stage.  
  
Julien moved to Julia and whispered in her ear, "Come."

  
Julia was scared to stand up in front of all these people. She stood up and followed her father to the microphone. He stood behind the microphone and took a deep breath.

  
"Sometimes there is so much we feel, but so little we can say," he started his speech. "Every farewell means the birth of a memory." He took another deep breath. "I remember how I met her and little Julia at the time, 15 years ago. Together, they had a hard time." Julia looked up at him, being a little bit confused. "But with the love and patience I gave them," Julia rolled her eyes a little bit, "it all worked out. We celebrated life every day."

  
Julia looked at the people in the room. Some were listening, some were crying, and few gave Julia a supportive smile.  
  
"Suddenly you went. Now the two of us are all that's left. Unspeakable sadness, but we'll never forget," she heard her father, "you have taught us to celebrate life, every day. And for you, Julia and I," she looked up at him, "we will continue and celebrate." Julia swallowed. He gave a nod to the audience, fold up his speech on paper and went to his seat. Julia followed him.  
  
The man of the funeral home went to the microphone. "Let's have a moment of silence."  
  
The whole room was silent, except for a few sniffs here and there. Then another song started to softly play; Led Zeppelins 'Knocking on Heavens Door.' The man stood in front of the coffin and bowed his head. He then turned around and whispered some words to Julien. Julien nodded and looked at Julia. He gave her a single nod and stood up. She stood up also and followed him. Together they walked around the coffin and stood. The man took the picture of the coffin and wanted to give to Julien. He gestured to Julia. The man smiled and went to her. She looked at him as she accepted the picture. After a minute they left the room.  


* * *

  
  
Peter stood in front of principal’s door. He cleared his throat before he knocked.

  
“Come in,” he heard.  
  
Carefully, Peter opened it. He looked at a middle aged, grey haired man. “Uhm… Mister Smith?”  
  
The principal looked up. “Ah, one of our exchange students. Peter Parker from Queens, USA?”  
  
“Yes sir, that’s me.”  
  
The man smiled and gestured to an empty chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat.” Peter closed the door and took place. “What can I do for you?” he asked while he folded his arms in front of his chest.  
  
“Uhm…” Peter got a little nervous and folded his hands together. “I… I’m worried about one of your students.” The man raised his eyebrows in surprise. “It’s my classmate, Julia Berger. I haven’t seen her for a few days and last time I saw her, she wasn’t really herself.”  
  
The man sighed, searched for his words. He looked at the student.

“Julia has some private issues and we don’t know when she is coming back. That’s all I can say.”  
  
Peter let the words sink in and nodded slowly. “I understand. Thank you,” he said, stood up and left the office.  
  
His friend, Ned, was waiting in the canteen. In the distance he saw his friend. He stood up and walked up to him.  
  
“What did he say?” he asked curious.  
  
Peter sighed. “Private issues.” They looked at each other. “But by the manner of his saying, it doesn’t look good.”  
  
Ned felt sorry. “I feel bad for her.”  
  
Peter nodded his head. “So do I. Whatever is happening or has happened to her… it’s just not fair.”  


* * *

  
  
Julia was sitting in her mother’s library room. She listened to her mother’s favorite music as she flipped through a photo album. Calm and slowly, memories went through her mind as she flipped through the pages. When she finished the album, she stood up and placed it back in the bookcase. Her eye caught a small, black photo album between the large albums. She took it in her hands and wondered why she had never seen this one. Slowly she went back to her mom’s desk and took a seat. She opened it and the first few pictures she saw was a young woman in a wedding dress and a man in a suit. She looked closely at the pictures. She could recognized her mother’s face, but not the man. She also noticed that her mother had a round tummy in her wedding dress.  
  
“Looks like she is pregnant,” Julia whispered to herself.  
  
Then she looked at the man. It is clear that he is a different man than the one she grew up with. She continued to flip through the small book. She saw pictures of her mother with a little baby in her arms, picture of a toddler in a chair with a plate of spaghetti in front of her and a next photo is a toddler with her face covered with red sauce of the spaghetti. Then there were no more pictures in the little book. She closed it and stared at it, lost in thought.  
  
Suddenly the door of the room opened and a slight drunk Julien stood in the opening.  
  
“Is dinner ready?” he asked.  
  
Julia looked at the time on her cell phone and saw it was almost dinner time. “Shit,” she mumbled. She looked at him. “Sorry, I totally forgot time,” she said. She knew he was used to dinner being ready when he got home. Julia stood up and wanted to rush out of the room. But Julien stopped her. She looked at him and got scared of another outburst.  
  
“What are you doing here?”  
  
“Looking at pictures of mom and listening to her music. That’s all.”  
  
“It’s better for you not to come here anymore. We have to move on with our lives,” he said. “You understand?”  
  
She nodded.  
  
“Come. I will order some Chinese.” He walked away.  
  
Julia looked over her shoulder into her mother’s room. She went back inside to turn off the radio. She did a slow spin to look at everything. Then she left.  
  
Half an hour later, they sat around the dinner table. Julien put some white rice and chicken in soy sauce on his plate. Then he poured a new glass of red wine. Julia poked her fork into the noodles and she ate it string by string. She felt anxious when she was around her father, or whoever he was. Although she chewed enough, she felt like she was almost choking on a string of noodle. Quickly she grabbed her glass with Coca cola and drank it. She felt the string sliding through her throat. Relieved she put down her drink. Like nothing had happened, she scooped some vegetables on her plate. With her fork she stabbed in a few veggies and picked out the softest to eat, while she hoped not to choke again. She chew on a piece of paprika and carefully swallowed it.  
  
“Julia, I think it’s better for you to go to school tomorrow,” Julien suddenly said.  
  
She started to choke again and cough. Quickly she went to the toilet. There she started to purge. She hang above the toilet as she was catching her breath. Slowly she stood up, flushed and went back to the dinner table. With a sigh she took a seat.  
  
“What was that about?” he asked irritated.  
  
“Sorry, something got stuck in my throat.”  
  
“Yeah right! You just puked out all of the food I have paid for!” He got angry which made Julia more anxious. “I have paid 20 dollars for this food and you puked it all down the toilet.” She bowed her head to avoid his face and kept silent. “Go to your room and stay there! You’re going back to school tomorrow!”  
  
“Yes sir,” Julia said softly as she got up to get to her room.  
  
The man sighed and shook his head as he poured a new glass of wine and drank it all at once.  
  
Julia laid on her bed, while she listened to music on her cell phone. Just like her mother, she loved listening to the calm songs of Enya. She closed her eyes as the music made her relaxed. Then she heard someone silently calling her name.  
  
“Julia… Julia.”  
  
She sat up and looked around in her room. In the corner of her room she saw a transparent figure, floating a few inches from the ground. Her body stiffened when she saw the creature. Slowly it floated towards her while it whispered; “Julia… Julia.”  
  
Julia’s eyes widened in fear. Her breathing became heavy, but she couldn’t move. The creature reached out it’s hand.  
  
“Julia… be careful,” it said with a haunted voice.  
  
Julia started to panic but still couldn’t move. Then the creature slowly faded away and the tension in her body faded as well. She looked around again, wondering what happened. She rubbed over her face with her hands. She took a deep breath, while she laid her hands over her face.  
  
“Okay. It’s over now. It’s gone,” she told herself, to calm herself down.  
  
Then she stood up, left her room and went to the bathroom. She opened the water tap and splashed some water over her face. She looked at herself in the mirror, after she dried her face with a towel. In the reflection she saw him standing behind her. Quickly she turned around and looked at him, scared. She could see he was more drunk then during dinner. Suddenly he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to her room.  
  
“Let me go! You’re hurting me!” she begged.  
  
Once they were in her room, he threw her on the floor. After the fall she laid on the ground, crying.  
  
“I said, stay in your room!” he yelled angry at her. He closed the door with a smack.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning!! Physical abuse in this chapter!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!

Tony Stark was in his lab, cleaning one of his Iron Man suits. With a dust cloth he rubbed over the red left shoulder of the suit. He went to the front and blew warm air into the mask. Then he rubbed over the condensation area with the cloth. He took a few steps backwards and looked at it.  
  
“Shining bright like a diamond,” he said with a smile.  
  
“Sir, I have incoming message for you.”  
  
“Who is it, Friday?” he asked as he cleaned up his stuff.  
  
“It’s Mr. Parker, Sir.”  
  
Tony looked up, surprised. He smiled. “Send him in.” A moment later, Peter appeared in a hologram in front of Tony. “Hey, kiddo,” he greeted with a smile.  
  
“Hey, Mr. Stark.”  
  
“How are you and how’s Belgium?”  
  
“Oh Belgium is a nice country. Except for the fries here. So thick, yuck!”  
  
Tony laughed.  
  
“Mr. Stark, I need some advice.” Tony raised up his eyebrows. “There is a girl in our class, Julia. She has a lot of problems in her personal life and….”  
  
“Are you trying to be her Romeo?” Tony interrupted  
  
Peter was shocked. “Huh? Wait…what?” Tony just smirked at him. “Oh no. No. No, it’s not like that!”  
  
Tony chuckled. “Yeah, right. But continue.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he wanted listen again.  
  
Peter sighed before he continued. “I want to help her, but I have no idea how.”  
  
“Well kid, I have to disappoint you,” he said as he walked to his cleaned suit. “But I can’t tell you what to do.” He turned around looked at him as he lift up the suit. “You both have to found out yourself.” He carried the thing back to his place.  
  
Peter nodded his head as he looked down, a little bit confused. “Right.”  
  
Tony looked back at the boy. “Sorry kiddo,” he said with guilt. In the background he heard the high heels of Pepper Potts coming closer. He looked around his shoulder at the sound.  
  
“I think Miss Potts is coming?”  
  
Tony looked amazed at the boy. “How do…”  
  
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Peter interrupted. “See you next time, Mr. Stark.” Before he logged off he gave him a smile and a wink, leaving Tony with a confused look on his face.  
  
“Was that Peter?” he heard Pepper asking. He turned around saw his lovely woman standing there with a green smoothie in her hand.  
  
“Yeah, that was Peter,” he answered as he walked over to her. He took over the smoothie. “Thank you,” he said before he took a sip.  
  
“How is he doing?” Pepper asked curious.  
  
Tony removed the glass from his lips with a big smile. “He’s growing up now.”  


* * *

  
  
Her eyes fluttered open, making her realize that she was laying on the floor, in the middle of her room. Suddenly she heard him shouting from downstairs, “Julia, wake up and get your lazy ass to school!”  
  
She sat up quickly and noticed the time on her digital alarm clock. “Shit,” she mumbled as she stood up quickly. She jumped to her closet, took out a random shirt and changed it with the one she wore. She grabbed her backpack before she ran downstairs. In a rush she opened the front door, which slammed into a wall. When she left the front garden, she took a left turn. School was just three blocks away, so she ran as fast as she could before she was too late. She made it to the gate when the zoomer went off. Before she entered the school building she had to sit down on one of the benches of the schoolyard to calm down from running. She leaned over, letting her elbows rest on her knees and took her breath.  
  
“It’s better to sit up straight to catch up your breathing.”  
  
Julia looked up and saw, caused by the sun, a black silhouette in front of her. She sat up and rested her back against the backrest of the bench, taking a few deep breaths.  
  
The silhouette took a seat next to her. “You’re early.”  
  
She looked at him and could see who it was. “What do you mean?”  
  
“Sociology classes has been cancelled,” Peter answered.  
  
Julia sighed irritated as she looked away. “Couldn’t they have call me earlier?”  
  
“I guess they hadn’t expected you back already,” Peter said suddenly. She looked back at him, slightly confused. He smiled. “But I’m happy you’re back and I am here for you… no matter what.” He stretched out a hand. She looked at it, back to him and vice versa. Suddenly she wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him. Gently he placed his hands on her upper back and embraced back in return.  
  
She started to cry. All he could do is holding her.  


* * *

  
  
Julien Beckers arrived in his office, inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Brussels. Carefully he placed his suitcase on the large conference table. He opened it and saw the blue Terrigan Crystals in there, still intact. He took a pair of rubber gloves out of the pocket of his jacket. With gentle care he placed the crystals in the cool mini bar, next to his desk. When he was done he closed the small door of the mini bar.  
  
He sat down at the head of the table, in front of a large TV screen. The screen turned dark blue and the word ‘Connecting’ with animated dots behind it appeared on the screen. Seconds later, two older men showed up.  
  
“Hail Hydra,” all three men said as a greeting.  
  
“Mission report,” the man with the grey hair demanded.  
  
“The crystals are safe with me. But I don’t know for long. My stepdaughter is very suspicious around me since her mother died,” he reported, while he took off the gloves.  
  
“You must protect the Terrigan Crystals. We need them for our new program in Switzerland. If you lose them, whatever the cause, the project will fail,” the man with the glasses ordered.  
  
Julien nodded. “I’ll do my best.” Then he disconnected the video chat. His mind wandered off to a solution to keep the crystals safe. A smile appeared on his lips as a plan came to his mind.  


* * *

  
  
At the last ten minutes of science class, the students were always allowed to do their own experiment. A perfect solution for Peter to make more spider web-fluids for his suit. Julia and Ned were watching how he made it. After he placed all the needed ingredients in a jar, he did a quick stir. Ned and Julia were looking over his shoulders. Smoke came out of the jar and Peter moved the spoon out of it with a transparent sticky substance on it.  
  
“Wow. That’s cool,” Julia said, amazed.  
  
“I know, right?” Ned replied.  
  
With a smile, Peter closed the jar.  
  
“So, what are you going to do with that?” Julia asked curious.  
  
Peter and Ned felt a little panicked.  
  
“Well….” Peter started as he searched for an excuse.  
  
Until Ned came to the rescue. “He’s already making webs for Halloween.”  
  
Peter looked surprised at his friend. Julia looked at Peter.  
  
He looked at her. “Uhm…yeah.”  
  
“Okay. But how do you keep it smooth like that?” Julia wondered.  
  
“By…uhm… I keep stirring it. Once a week,” Peter answered, hoping she believed him.  
  
Then the zoomer went off for their next lesson. Julia left them. The boys looked at each other and they released a relieved sigh.  
  
“Saved by the bell. That was a close call,” he said, relieved.  
  
“Will they even know Spiderman in this country?” Ned wondered in a whisper.  
  
Peter shrugged his shoulders because he didn’t know the answer. Then they left for their next lesson.  


* * *

  
  
In the SHIELD headquarters, Nick Fury looked over the shoulder of Maria Hill. She sat behind a computer and on the screen was the map of Europe with red dots on it. They both were looking at it until one of their agents came in. Fury looked up at him.  
  
“Agent Coulson,” he greeted him while he reached out his hand.  
  
“Boss,” the agent said as he walked up to him and shook his hand.  
  
“I am glad you could come as soon as possible. HYDRA is working on a new and improved Winter Soldier program with the Terrigan Crystals,” the SHIELD director explained. “I want you and your team to find those crystals and bring them here, so we can destroy them in a safe way.”  
  
Agent Coulson nodded as he heard his new assignment. Fury gestured at the map.  
  
“Here are all the HYDRA bases where they could probably store the crystals.”  
  
Agent Coulson looked closely to the map, his eyes on a small country.  
  
“The Netherlands and Belgium are small countries, so we better start there. Then we can go further into Europe to get the rest of the crystals,” Coulson said. He stood up straight and looked at Fury. “My team and I will do our best to get those crystals out of HYDRA’s hands.”  
  
Fury smiled at him. “I trust you. That’s why I have you on this case.” He reached out his hand again. Agent Coulson shook it again. “Good luck,” he wished his agent.  


* * *

  
  
After a long day of school, Julia shoved a lasagna into the hot oven. She set a timer into her cell phone while she left the kitchen. With the cell phone in her hand she walked to the stairs. She walked by her mother’s room. For a moment she looked up at the closed door of that room. Quickly she went upstairs, went to her room and took her homework from her desk. She went downstairs again and opened the door of her mother’s library. She stood still in the doorway and looked around at the room. She went inside and closed the door behind her. A calm feeling washed over her body, while she took a deep breath. Placing her homework on her mother’s desk, she walked over to the radio. She turned it on and the calm music of Enya reverberated out of the speakers. She took a seat behind the desk, opened her math book and started to do her homework. Deeply lost in thought, she was focused on her math homework.  
  
“SOMETHING’S BURNING IN HERE!!!”  
  
Julia quickly looked up as she was ripped out of her concentration by his yelling. In a rush she stood up, opened the door and ran to the kitchen. She shoved her father away who was standing in the doorway of kitchen, facing the oven. Smoke was coming out of it. She grabbed an oven mitt, opened the oven and took out the black lasagna. They both coughed when the smoke escaped. Julia threw the lasagna on the counter and waved the black clouds away. She looked at him.  
  
“Uhm…shall I order pizza?”  
  
He couldn’t appreciate her remark and started yelling angry at her. “This is the second time this week that you screwed up dinner! Where have you been?”  
  
She sighed. “Mom’s room.”  
  
Suddenly Julien slapped her in the face, smacking her face away from him.  
  
“But I did,” she looked back at him, “I even set a timer in my phone for the lasagna.”  
  
“Prove it,” he growled.  
  
Julia walked to the room and went to the desk. She took her phone in her hand and saw the screen was black. She tried to turn on her phone, while she walked back, but it refused her. An annoyed sigh came out of her mouth as she looked up at him.  
  
“My phone died,” she said, while she rolled her eyes. “Great,” she mumbled as she looked at her phone.  
  
Suddenly Julien pushed Julia against the wall with his hand around her neck. She was looking at him with pure shock.  
  
“I told you to stay out of this room!” he growled again. She could smell the scent of alcohol in his breath. “And once again,” his hand went tighter around her neck, “you didn’t listen to me!” She gasped for air. “For that, I must punish you!” He released her throat and grabbed her arm with his other hand. He dragged her into the living room and pushed her against the back of the couch. She tried to turn around, but he roughly turned her back and pushed her forward, bending her.  
  
“What are you doing?” she asked scared.  
  
He said nothing and held her hands behind her back. With his other hand, he released the belt of his pants. Then he lifted her shirt. Anxiety raised up in her body.  
  
“No, no, don’t. Please!” she begged, as tears welled up in her eyes.  
  
Before she knew it, she felt the first hit of the belt on her back. She screamed out in pain as a second slap quickly followed.  
  
“Stop it!” she begged again, as tears came into her eyes as a third slap hit her back.  
  
“You…” he whipped, “…should,” and whipped, “…listen,” and whipped again, “…to me!”  
  
After one more whip he stopped and let her go. Julia sank through her knees, but kept holding the couch.  
  
“What kind of father are you?” she sobbed.  
  
“I’m not even your real father,” he said as he placed the belt back around his pants and left the living room.  
  
Inside her mind, every piece of the puzzle fell into its place. The man of the wedding picture and the story he told at her mother’s funeral. Julien Beckers isn’t her real father she grew up with. With that thought she burst into tears.  


* * *

  
  
Weeks went by after the abuse. To keep the peace in the house and between them, Julia did almost everything Julien wanted. She worked hard in the housekeeping, ironed his suits and cooked fresh meals every night. And when Julien fell asleep in his chair or went to bed, it was Julia’s opportunity to work on her homework. But the hard working paid off and most of the time she fell asleep during her study.  
  
School was getting harder for her and Peter and Ned noticed it in her behavior. During lessons she was very absent inside her mind and had trouble with concentrating. At lunchbreak she sat with Ned and Peter, but stared at the table.  
  
“Julia?”  
  
No response.  
  
“Julia? Are you okay?”  
  
She still didn’t react. Peter laid a hand on her shoulder. Caused by that she got scared and grabbed his wrist, pinching her nails into his flesh as she looked at Peter’s face. Ned looked at them in shock.  
  
“Hey, calm down,” Peter warned.  
  
She sighed and released him.  
  
“I’m sorry,” she apologized.  
  
She looked away and rubbed her hands over her face. For a moment she covered her face with her hands. Ned and Peter looked worried at her. Then her body started to quake. She laid her arms on the table and placed her head into her arms.  
  
“Life is so hard now,” she sobbed and burst into tears.  
  
Peter and Ned stood up and walked to her side. They embraced her for comfort.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers,
> 
> I want to announce that there is another TRIGGER WARNING for PHYSICAL ABUSE in this chapter. If it's too hard for you too read them you can probably skip them.
> 
> Have fun reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!

Agent Phil Coulson, Tony Stark and two pilots were walking to the QuinJet.  
  
“I am happy you wanted to be on my team.”  
  
“You’re welcome.”  
  
During the walk the agent gave Tony a paper.  
  
“Here is a list of addresses where the Terrigan Crystals can be kept,” he said without looking at him.  
  
Tony looked at the list. He chuckled.  
  
“The ministry of Foreign Affairs?” He looked at him. “You’re kidding, right?”  
  
Coulson glanced between the paper and the billionaire. “Actually, we don’t know for sure if the Crystals are there. SHIELD has hacked a part of HYDRA’s system to find the crystals. All these addresses are just a guess.”  
  
They entered the jet and took a seat. The pilots took a seat behind the wheel. They pushed a few buttons and a moment later, the motors started to roar.  
  
“Well, nice guess then. You know every ministry of Foreign Affairs around the world is highly secured?” Tony said, while he secured himself into the seat.  
  
“Yes, I know,” agent Coulson answered, after he secured himself. “And you know we are dealing with HYDRA, the most manipulative organization of the world?”  
  
He looked at Tony and Tony was looking at the agent. He moved his eyes to the ceiling for a moment like he was thinking.  
  
“Right,” he mumbled.  
  


* * *

  
  
Julien looked around in the re-decorated room after he moved his dark green leather chair behind his classic, English brown mahogany desk. A smile came on his lips as he nodded his head in satisfaction while he looked around. Carefully he placed his suitcase onto the desk and put on a set of rubber gloves. He opened the suitcase, took out the Terrigan Crystals one by one and placed it in a special designed glass refrigerator inside his brown mahogany English library cabinet.  
  
When all crystals had been placed, he closed the fridge and took off his gloves. He took a seat behind his desk. Out of a drawer he took out a small remote control. He pressed a button. Automatically the dark green curtains closed and a large flat TV-screen came out of the ceiling. The screen turned on and showed the man with the glasses.  
  
“Hail HYDRA,” they both greeted.  
  
“Mr. Beckers, please report.”  
  
“I finally have a secure place for the crystals. Here in my own home, in a separate room with a digital secured door. Nobody can enter here, except for me.”  
  
“Good,” the man said as he folded his hands together, underneath his chin. “Keep them there until you receive the signal to depart them to our weapons facility.”  
  
Julien nodded and disconnected. The TV screen slid back into the ceiling and the curtains opened by itself. He stood up and walked to his old-fashioned LP-player on the dresser. Out of the dresser he took out an LP of ‘The Who’ and placed the big black disc on the player. He placed the needle on a random line. The player started to play the first melodies of the song ‘Getting In Tune.’ Then he walked to his mini bar.  
  
He took a bottle of Jack Daniels, opened it and poured it into a glass. Out of a small drawer into the bar, he took out a Cuban cigar. With a match he burned it on. He turned around, took a seat in his green leather lounge chair and enjoyed the view of the backyard, while taking a drag of his cigar.  


* * *

  
  
Julia, Ned and Peter were walking through a supermarket. The shopping cart was filled with fresh products and was being pushed by Ned. Julia looked at her grocery list.  
  
“Let me see. Two bottles of Coca Cola zero, broccoli, sweet potatoes, chicken, spinach, pasta, salmon, pepperoni pizza for him, veggie pizza for me, milk, soy milk, yoghurt, strawberries, blueberries, eggs. Pastries! I need pastries!”  
  
She walked off quickly. Peter and Ned followed her steps.  
  
“It’s an awful lot of groceries,” Peter remarked.  
  
“Yeah, I know, but I’m used to it now. Besides, it’s a good workout,” she said as she looked at him with a smile, showing her the muscles in her arm.  
  
“Do you mind if we help you carrying them?” he offered.  
  
“Aaww, so sweet of you. But sure, you may. He isn’t home anyways, so it’s safe to come.”  
  
They arrived at the bakery aisle.  
  
“Dudes! Pastries are on sale! Get two and pay one. Awesome!” Ned called with an excited tone in his voice.  
  
Peter and Julia both shook their head. Julia let out a little chuckle, while Peter pinched his nose bridge.  
  
Once Julia had the stuff she needed, they all walked to her home. Ned and Julia each had a bag of small groceries in their hand, while Peter carried a box with the Coca Cola, the yoghurt and the milk. Julia looked at him.  
  
“Man, you’re strong for a skinny guy.”  
  
“Uhm, thank you?” he remarked with a furrowed brow.  
  
“No, seriously. I didn’t expect that!” Julia continued, which made Peter blush.  
  
They entered the street where Julia lived. Suddenly, she stopped walking and her eyes grew.  
  
“Julia? What’s wrong?” Peter asked when he and Ned stopped next to her.  
  
She swallowed. “See that black Ford Mondeo?”  
  
The boys took a look. “Yeah?”  
  
“That’s his car. He’s never home around this time. This is not a good sign.”  
  
The boys looked at Julia and saw the fear on her face. She took a step back. Peter laid gently a hand on her shoulder. With fear in her eyes she looked at him.  
  
“You’ve got our back,” he comforted her.  
  
She nodded. After taking a deep breath, they walked to her home. When they arrived, Julia shoved her key into the lock and opened the front door. The three of them entered. Ned and Peter looked around, amazed by the large space of the villa.  
  
“Hello?” Julia called.  
  
A door opened and Julien came out of the secured room. Suddenly the hairs on Peter's arms stood up. He elbowed Ned and showed him his arm. Ned looked at him with wide eyes and swallowed down his fear. Julien looked at the three teenagers.  
  
“Hey, you’re home early,” she said.   
  
He kept silent when he looked at her. She could see in his eyes he had been drinking again.  
  
“Uhm… these are my friends, Peter and Ned.”  
  
Julien looked back at the young boys.  
  
“Hello, sir. Nice to meet you,” Peter greeted friendly.  
  
Ned was too nervous to greet him and kept silent. The old man still kept silent and kept looking at them, no emotion in his eyes. Julia glanced at her friends and went to the kitchen. Peter placed the box with the drinks on the counter, while Julia took out the items and placed them in kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator. Peter and Ned started to help her.  
  
“Got my drinks?” Julien suddenly asked.  
  
Ned and Peter froze when he suddenly said something.  
  
“Not yet,” Julia answered, while she kept unpacking the last few items.  
  
She looked at her friends.  
  
“Want to see my room?”  
  
“Yeah, sure,” Peter answered.  
  
They left the kitchen and went upstairs. Julia opened the door of her room. The boys were amazed by the size of it.  
  
“Wow,” Ned exclaimed. “This room is like two, three times bigger than mine!”  
  
The boys looked around her room some more. Light blue walls, light grey wooden floor, white furniture and some framed quotes-posters on the wall. Above her bed on the wall was a blue-purple dreamcatcher.  
  
“You have a very nice room,” Peter complimented while he looked around.  
  
She smiled and thanked him while she went to her desk. She opened a drawer and took out a fake ID.  
  
“Come, we have to go to the liquor store,” Julia said when she closed the drawer.  
  
They went downstairs. From the living room they heard the TV playing the news.  
  
“I’ll be back soon,” Julia called out and they left the house.  
  
After a few steps on the street, they all inhaled and exhaled a deep breath.  
  
“That was…. Intense,” Peter admitted.  
  
“Can you imagine feeling like that, every day?”  
  
Peter stood still in front of Julia.  
  
“Listen to me. This is not a healthy life for you! You need to get out of there for your own safety,” he told her, worried.  
  
Julia looked confuse at him.  
  
“But where can I go?”  
  
“You can come with us,” Ned offered.  
  
“But you’re going back to the USA when spring break starts, which is within two weeks. I can’t go there, he won’t let me go with you,” Julia said, almost panicked.  
  
The boys went silent, because they knew she was right. She sighed and passed them to walk off to the liquor store. They looked at her while she was walking away.  
  
“I feel bad about this,” Ned admitted.  
  
“So do I,” Peter sighed.  
  
Julia entered the store. She took two bottles of red wine and a bottle of Jack Daniels. With the items she went to the cash register. Her hand went into the pocket of her jeans to take out her fake ID and showed it to the salesman. He glanced at it and nodded. She gave him the money and left the store with the drinks. Outside she met Ned and Peter again.  
  
“How did you get the drinks?” Peter asked curious and shocked.  
  
Julia moved a finger to her lips and showed her the fake ID.  
  
“Julia, that’s illegal!” Peter exclaimed in a soft tone.  
  
“I know, but how do I get the drinks then? He doesn’t want to buy it because…” she made a quote sign at the side of her head while saying, “…he is too busy,” she answered irritated, also in a soft tone.  
  
They looked worried at her. She sighed, turned around and shook her head.  
  
“Don’t push them away. Don’t push them away. Don’t push them away,” she mumbled to herself, moving her hands through her hair.  
  
“Julia?”  
  
“I need to go,” she said abruptly.  
  
Quickly she walked off, leaving them confused.  


* * *

  
  
His eyes stared at the television. He circled his glass of whiskey before he drank it all. The front door opened and closed. A moment later, Julia came into the living room. He looked at her and suddenly she stood still when she noticed he looked at her. She already felt the mood. Slowly she walked to the mini bar and placed the beverage into the bar.  
  
“This wine was on sale, so I bought two bottles.”  
  
No answer. She looked at the clock above the television.  
  
“It’s almost dinner time. I’ll start preparing it,” she said while she turned around.  
  
She walked along the chair where Julien sat in. Suddenly he stopped her by grabbing her arm.  
  
“Who were they?” he asked, his eyes focused on the television.  
  
Julia was scared to look at him.  
  
“Friends.”  
  
He looked at her and grabbed her tighter at the joint of her elbow. Julia clenched her jaw to hide the pain.  
  
“Don’t lie.”  
  
She swallowed.  
  
“C--Classmates,” she answered with a trembling voice, still scared to look at him.  
  
“Look at me,” he demanded. Carefully she turned her head. “Don’t you ever bring them home again.”  
  
“Yes sir,” she said after a shaky breath.  
  
With a rough throw, he released her. She slightly lost her balance caused by that, but managed to keep standing. She walked to the kitchen. On the way to the kitchen she walked along her mother’s room. For a moment she stood still at the door. Since her last visit, it has a digital lock on the door to prevent her from entering the room. Only Julien now had access to her mother’s room. She sighed and went to the kitchen. She turned on the oven for the salmon. Then she opened a lower cabinet to take out a pan for the pasta. She filled it with water.  
Suddenly from the corner of her eye, she saw a black object flying towards her. She dove aside to avoid it. The item hit the wall above the sink, shattered green glass and red fluids covered the wall. Then somebody pulled her by the hair, out of the kitchen. The pan she was holding fell on the floor, water covered the floor. She has been thrown out of the kitchen, into the hallway. In fear, she kept her eyes closed. She was smashed into a wall and she tumbled on the floor. A mirror fell off the wall and shattered next to her. His hand grabbed her roughly by her throat. She almost choked on her breath.  
  
“READ!” he spat at her. Carefully she opened her eyes. “Of which country is this wine? What does the label say?” he growled.  
  
With a blurry view she tried to look at the label of the second bottle. She blinked a few times to get her view to sharpen.  
  
“Au---Austria?” she gasped while she answered his question.  
  
With one motion he smashed the bottle onto the floor and it shattered into pieces, right next to her head.  
  
“You KNOW I don’t like Austrian wine!”  
  
He released her and she started to cough before she could take another breath.  
  
“Clean this shit and buy AUSTRALIAN wine,” he demanded and walked back into the living room.  
  
For a few more seconds she laid on the floor. She released a sigh and rubbed with her hands over her face. Slowly she stood up and went back into the kitchen. She turned off the oven, took out a bucket from a cabinet, filled it with warm water with a little bit of all-purpose cleaner and started to clean the mess he had made.  
  
After a half an hour of cleaning, she left home again for the wine. This time she went to the supermarket. After she bought the wine she went home, she placed the wine into the mini bar and started with cooking.  
  
After fifteen minutes they sat at the dinner table. Julien poured a glass of wine and drank from it. Then he started to eat his meal. He picked with his fork into the broccoli and chicken and shoved it into his mouth. He looked at Julia and saw her take itsy-bitsy-bites from her broccoli. He rolled his eyes and shook his head when he looked away from her.  
  
After a while he was done eating and left the table. He took a seat in his chair and turned on the TV. Julia had just finished a quarter of her portion. A few minutes later she left the table as well. With the plates in her hands she went to the kitchen. She shoved her leftovers into her lunchbox. She started putting the dishes into the dishwasher and turned it on. While the machine did its work, Julia made coffee.  
  
She opened the pastry-cabinet and took out a glazed mini donut. When the coffee was done, she poured it into a mug. With the donut on a small plate and the coffee, she went to the living room. Next to the chair of Julien was a small table. On that table she placed the mug and pastry. Then she turned around and left.  
  
Upstairs she was ironing the clean laundry. She was hanging his suits as a set on a clothes hangers. With an arm full of suits, she went to his bedroom and filled his closet with clean suits. She went back into the washing room and started to iron her own clothing.  
  
After a while she was done and she went back downstairs, into the living room and took his empty mug and plate. She made another coffee for him, this time with a small glass of Irish Cream Liqueur from the mini bar. She went back into the kitchen and cleaned out the dishwasher. When the clean dishes has been taken out and placed in the right cabinet she put in a few dishes that didn’t fit in, ready to be washed the next time. In a distance she heard the CNN news from the living room.  
  
“According to the Dutch police, 14 people were injured at an attack in Delft, the Netherlands. The police found proof of identity of a Dutchman in the truck, as well as grenades and firearms of Stark Industry. It is still a miracle these weapons hadn’t exploded during the crash at the church during the royal funeral,” she heard a male newscaster.  
  
She decided to leave the kitchen and watch the news. She leaned into the doorway, with crossed arms in front of her chest and watched in silence.  
  
“According to the police, the perpetrator was 31-year-old Dennis Mulder. Mulder told the police that HYDRA demanded the attack, but there appeared to be no evidence for that.”  
  
Then she saw Julien raise his glass of Irish Cream and whispered: “Hail HYDRA.”  
  
She looked confused at him.  
  
“What’s HYDRA? And why would they do that?” she suddenly asked, not knowing what HYDRA was.  
  
His head snapped up and looked at her. Suddenly he moved out of his chair and attacked her. Julia wanted to run away, but it was too late. He grabbed her arm and pulled her closer into him. Roughly, he grabbed her jaw and looked angrily in her eyes.  
  
“Forget everything… and I mean EVERYTHING you just heard!! You hear me?” he growled into her face.  
  
“Y-yes sir,” she answered with a trembling voice, being scared for his next action.  
  
He pinched his eyes at her.  
  
“I don’t believe you,” he said and threw her into the hallway.  
  
Once again she had been smacked into a wall and fell on the floor. It feels like a daily routine to her, but lucky for her nothing fell off from the wall this time. Julien removed the belt from his pants. In fear, Julia kept her arms over her head. The belt slapped twice onto her arm.  
  
“Please stop! I promise to forget!” she begged, between the slaps.  
  
“You better!” he yelled, kicking her in the ribs.  
  
Julia coughed and gasped for air after it happened. The pain from her rib spread out into her whole body and she squeezed her eyes shut. She heard him walking away. One bleep followed and she opened her eyes. She saw him standing in front of the room which first belonged to her mother. She saw how he pushed three numbers into the digital lock. Each button he pressed gave a bleep. She could see the three numbers he pressed in, _959_. The first number she has missed. Then the door opened and he sneaked inside. After the door closed, Julia carefully stood up. A wave of pain went through her when she was on her legs. Slowly, she went to the stairs. Unbalanced she went up the stairs. It took five minutes before she got into the bathroom. Into the doorway she was catching her breathe. Minutes later she moved over to the sink. She held it steady to keep her balance. She opened the medical cabinet and took out a package of painkillers. She popped out a few pills into her hand and threw it in her mouth followed by two glasses of water. Then she staggered to her room. Carefully she laid into her bed. She closed her eyes and took a painful breath, waiting to fall asleep. _959_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!

It was quiet in the QuinJet. Tony Stark tapped impatiently on the armrest of his seat. He looked at agent Coulson who was reading a file.  
  
“Tell me some more about the people we are looking for,” Tony said, to break the silence.  
  
“At this moment I am reading about Julien Beckers. He is the minister of Belgium’s Foreign Affairs. His name was found in HYDRA’s system when we hacked it,” the agent said, still reading the file. “Perhaps he has some of the Terrigan Crystals.”  
  
Tony huffed.  
  
“Why are we after these crystals? Are they dangerous?”  
  
Coulson closed the file and placed it in his lap. Out of the inner pocket of his jacket he took out his cell phone. He tapped his finger on the screen and gave it to the billionaire.  
  
“Here is a video of what these crystals can do,” he said when Tony took over the phone.  
  
The video showed a man breaking a blue crystal in front of another man. The broken crystal emitted a gray-black mist. Tony wasn’t impressed. The mist went to the second person and dissolved. A moment later the man’s body turned slowly into stone, while he panicked. Tony’s face moved slightly into disgust. The man’s body was completely covered with stone. The billionaire looked in shock at the agent.  
  
“That’s not all,” Coulson said, as he cocked his head to the phone.  
  
Tony looked back. A few seconds later, the rocky skin fell apart from the man’s body, piece by piece. Once all the pieces had fallen off, it revealed the man’s body, covered with blue fur and showing bright green eyes. He fell on his hands while his body deformed into some kind of mythical creature. Tony’s eyes widened while he looked at the footage.  
  
“Well, that’s a nice manner to choose your Halloween costume,” he said, sarcastic.  
  
“And this is just one example of what these crystals can do,” Coulson explained while Tony looked at him. “Not everybody will experience something like this. The crystals can also give you internal powers while looking like a human. For example, one of my agents can cause earthquakes. Then another person can read minds and so on with many other powers.” Tony looked and listened astonished at the agent while he was talking. “You can even have a combination of another look with a power. We call these people who experienced this metamorphosis, Inhumans.”  
  
Tony kept looking at him when he was finished explaining. He blinked a few times with his eyes.  
  
“Wow! This is different than getting something out of a bottle.”  
  
“We assume HYDRA is going to create a new kind of army with these crystals,” Coulson warned.  
  
This time Tony slowly nodded his head.  
  
“Well, let’s steal their Swarovski collection then.”  


* * *

  
  
The curtains closed and the TV-screen slid out of the ceiling. Impatiently, Julien walked back and forth while the signal was connecting. His back faced the TV when the man with the glasses, named Daniel Whitehall, came on screen.  
  
“Hail HY…”  
  
“We need to transport the crystals, NOW!” Julien cut him off as he turned around and faced the TV. Whitehall looked confused at him. “She just found out about HYDRA. The crystals aren’t safe here anymore. I’m taking the first plane to Austria, with the crystals.”  
  
Julien started to walk back and forth again.  
  
“Calm down, Mr. Beckers. I will arrange something for you to get the crystals here. No need to stress out or else she’ll be more suspicious.”  
  
He stood still and released a sigh.  
  
“As long as she doesn’t get her hands on the crystals, everything will be fine,” Whitehall reassured. “Can she access the room?”  
  
“No,” Julien mumbled.  
  
“Then don’t worry as long as she can’t reach them. Hail HYDRA,” Whitehall said and logged off.  
  
Julien sighed and stared at the crystals into the glass refrigerator while the TV slid back into the ceiling and the curtains opened. A moment later he left the room.  
  
In the hallway he noticed Julia was gone. He went upstairs and busted into her room. There he saw her laying on the bed. He walked to the bed, stood still and looked down at her. She was unconscious. He turned around and left her room.  


* * *

  
  
Peter and Ned were in their dorm, on their beds. They both stared at the ceiling, in silence. Although the event inside Julia’s home and at the liquor store was hours ago, the boys were still recovering from it. Ned’s stomach started to rumble.  
  
“I guess it’s dinner time,” he said, after his stomach rumbled again.  
  
“Shall we go to McDonalds?” Peter suggested.  
  
“Good idea.”  
  
Five minutes later they were still onto the bed.  


* * *

  
  
She opened her eyes and looked into the darkness of her room. She took a deep breath until a stab of pain in her body stopped her from breathing deeper. Slowly she sat up, trying to forget what had happened. But the pain made her remember.  
  
Carefully she stood up and walked, unsteady, to her bedroom door. Silently she opened it. Snoring of the man, who she thought was her father, filled the upper floor. Carefully she went downstairs. She tiptoed to her mother's room. Her finger moved to the digital lock. She only missed the first number of the code. She decided to give herself two more tries to unlock the door. She pushed into button with the number one, followed by the other three numbers she could remember, _959_.  
  
The door made a click. Julia was surprised it worked the first try. She pushed open the door and got scared when lights went on automatically. She was shocked as to what she saw.  
  
Dark mahogany with green furniture, green curtains and a dark green carpet covered the floor. Her face turned into disgust as she entered the room. She looked over her shoulder and got scared of a dark red banner with a black skull and six octopus tentacles. It was the same HYDRA symbol she saw on the news earlier that evening. Anxiety welled up in her body. She faced the library cabinet, filled with encyclopedias, history books, bibles of each religion and many more books. Also a few pictures. She went closer to have a better look at them. An old picture of him with her mother and herself as a toddler. A picture of himself, a man with round glasses in a dark brown suit with a black tie in the middle and a grey haired man in a black suit with a blue striped tie on the left. The same banner on the background. Also a picture of himself shaking the hand of former Russian Prime Minister, Michail Fradkov.  
  
Then a blueish light from below caught her attention. Through her pain she crouched to see what was inside. She looked mesmerized at the blue crystals.  
  
“Wow,” she whispered to herself.  
  
She opened the little fridge and took a crystal in her hand. She looked closer at it and could see black veins inside of it. She was hypnotized by the beauty of it and forgot the world around her. Then the door of the room closed with a bang. Julia was startled and dropped the crystal. She looked at it as it hit the floor and broke into three pieces.  
  
“Shit!”  
  
She looked around her shoulder in fear to meet Julien. But nobody was there. She looked back at the broken crystal. A grey-black mist appeared from the crystal. She felt a breeze along her face. Carefully she stood up and backed off a few steps. The mist moved towards her and dissolved at her feet.  
  
“Julia. Julia,” she heard a female haunted voice.  
  
She looked up to her left and saw the blurry creature she had once seen in her room. Out of fear her body started to shiver heavily. She wanted to walk away, but noticed her feet turned into stone. The stone moved upwards her legs, taking over her entire body. She panicked.  
  
Inside the stoned body, Julia was panting in fear. She could see the blurry creature coming towards her. The creature slowly turned less blurry and formed into a human. Julia’s eyes widened in shock when the creature turned out to look just like her mother.  
  
“I’m here to protect you,” her mother reassured.  
  
She came closer and moved into Julia’s body. She gasped for air as she felt the ghost glide into her body. Then the rock broke off, piece by piece. When all pieces had fallen off, she fell onto her knees. She was breathing heavily and noticed the pain in her body was gone. She touched her face and her skin was soft like a skin of a baby.  
  
She stood up and walked to the library cabinet to look at her reflection into the glass of the cabinet doors. Besides a super soft skin she saw nothing abnormal. She looked at the ground, to the pieces of rock and the broken crystal. She grabbed the garbage can from underneath the desk and cleared away all the pieces. With the garbage bag she left the room.  
  
Quietly, she went upstairs. She was relieved when she heard him snoring. Once she was inside her room, she closed the door. She looked into the mirror onto her closet to have a better look at herself. She took off her shirt and jeans. She turned around and looked over her shoulder to her reflection. All of the bruises and wounds on her body were gone.  
  
“What the…”  


* * *

  
  
In the late afternoon, the QuinJet landed at Brussels International Airport. Tony and agent Coulson stepped out of the jet, went through security and stepped into a rental car that was waiting for them. When they were seated in the car, a bleep came out of the inner pocket of Coulson’s jacket. He took out his phone and opened his inbox.  
  
“A message of one of my agents in The Netherlands. They have found fifty crystals in the apartment of HYDRA agent Dennis Mulder,” he informed Tony. He looked at the billionaire. “Including weapons of Stark Industries.”  
  
Tony was amazed.  
  
“I thought every weapon had been destroyed?”  
  
“Probably not. But it’s in better hands now.”  
  
“Destroy them,” Tony demanded. “I don’t want the risk it gets into the wrong hands again.”  
  
“Yes, sir.”  
  
Coulson started the engine and drove off.  


* * *

  
  
The same late afternoon Julia, Ned and Peter sat in their college dorm. Ned was on his laptop, while Julia and Peter were playing Black Jack with cards. Julia’s card was a clover five and a queen of hearts, while Peters were a clover nine and a square eight.  
  
“So, if this card is a six… the candy bar is mine,” Julia said as she touched a Mars candy bar laying in their middle.  
  
Peter nodded his answer. Julia smiled. She kept looking at Peter as she flipped a card from the pile, a heart of five. They both ooww-ed.  
  
“Let’s see, what’s my next card?” Peter wondered.  
  
He took a card from the pile. He waited with flipping as he eyed Julia. A few seconds later, he flipped the card. A king of hearts.  
  
“Ha!” Julia cheered while she threw her fists in the air. Quickly she grabbed the candy bar. “My precious,” she said with a Gollum-voice as she stroked it.  
  
Peter bowed his head.  
  
“Dammit,” he whispered.  
  
“Hey, that guy from the attack in The Netherlands committed suicide in his cell,” Ned suddenly said.  
  
“Really?” Peter reacted in shock as he looked at his friend.  
  
“Yeah. And HYDRA still doesn’t acknowledge the attack.”  
  
“Uhm guys?” Julia asked softly. The boys looked at her. “What’s HYDRA?”  
  
“You don’t know HYDRA?” Peter asked, slightly amazed. Julia shook her head, insecure. “HYDRA is a terrorist organization.”  
  
Julia felt slightly scared.  
  
“What do they do?” she asked, hesitant.  
  
“Well, from what I have heard they kidnap people, brainwash them and train them to be their soldier. They will torture you as a punishment and will even give you another identity,” Peter explained.  
  
Anxiety build up in her body. She felt her life draining out of her body. Peter noticed she turned pale.  
  
“Are you okay?” he asked, worried.  
  
She was startled by his question.  
  
“Yeah. I… uh… I have to go.” She stood up from the bed and walked to the door.  
  
“Hey,” she heard Peter. She looked around her shoulder. “Your price,” he said as he threw the Mars bar towards her. She caught it with one hand. Then she opened the door and left the dorm.  
  
“I think she knows something,” Peter suspected. He looked at his friend. “I will visit and talk to her tonight.”  
  
“Then what?”  
  
“Well…. I will tell her that she doesn’t have to be scared,” Peter suggested.  
  
“That would be great,” Ned reassured.  


* * *

  
  
With a body filled with anxiety, she stood in front of the door of her home. She shoved in the key into the lock of the door and opened it. She heard the TV from the living room. She went immediately into the kitchen to turn on the oven. Out of the freezer she took out the pizza’s. She looked at her own pizza. She sensed that her body was too anxious to eat properly. She placed her pizza back into the freezer. When the oven was hot enough she placed his pizza into it and set the alarm clock in her phone.  
  
From a distance she looked at him, watching the news at CNN. The report about the suicide in the Dutch cell came on screen. When the picture of the dead HYDRA agent came on screen, Julien raised his glass of red wine. This time he said nothing. She turned around and went back into the kitchen. She took some deep breaths to prevent a panic attack. Suddenly the doorbell went off. She let out a little shriek of fear. Carefully she went to the front door and opened it.  
  
“Good evening, madam,” a nearly bald man greeted. “I am Agent Phil Coulson of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.” He showed his badge and gestured to the man behind him. “This is Tony Stark and we are here for Julien Beckers.”  
  
“That’s me.”  
  
Julia looked over her shoulder, saw him walking up and stepped aside. He reached out his hand to Tony.  
  
“Mr. Stark, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said with a smile while they shook hands. After a few shakes he released. “Come in,” he welcomed them politely. The men stepped inside and she closed the door behind them. “Our Department of Defense really liked to use your weapons during our missions in the Middle East. It had such good quality.”  
  
“Really?” Tony said amazed as he looked around the hallway.  
  
“Yes. Too bad you don’t produce them anymore. We are now on our own since we are out of stock.”  
  
“Good,” Tony said firmly as he looked at him.  
  
“Mr. Beckers, we have some questions for you.” Coulson noticed the secured door at the end of the hallway. “What’s in there?” he asked as he gestured to the door.  
  
“Our safe. Come further,” Julien answered calmly as he gestured the men to the living room, taking Coulson by the arm. “Let’s have a talk while enjoying some coffee with a nice liqueur.”  
  
Coulson entered the living room, followed by Julien. Tony stood still in front of the secured door. Julia passed him by, entering the kitchen. Tony looked at her.  
  
“Hey,” he called out at her with a soft voice. Julia stopped and looked shocked at him. “He is kind of rude for not introducing you, huh?” Julia swallowed. He reached out his hand. “Tony Stark,” he introduced himself with a smile.  
  
Julia took his hand. A small blast appeared as she touched his skin. They released each other immediately.  
  
“I—I’m sorry,” she apologized.  
  
Tony waved her apology away. “It’s okay. An accident can happen.”  
  
Julia took a step backwards.  
  
“Uhm, I’m Julia by the way,” she introduced herself, insecure, moving her long blond hair behind her ear.  
  
“Nice to meet you, Julia,” Tony said with a smile.  
  
Then the timer of her cell phone went off. She turned around as she took out her phone out of the pocket of her jeans and went into the kitchen. While she was there, Tony looked back at the secured door. He took out his purple glassed sunglasses from his jacket and put it on. Quickly he tapped on the side of it.  
  
“FRIDAY, give me a scan of this room,” he said, softly.  
  
“Yes, sir,” the AI-voice said.   
  
In his glasses he saw the X-ray vision of the room. Through his glasses he noticed the small refrigerator with the crystals.  
  
“Uhm, can I maybe help you?” he heard Julia asking.  
  
He looked at her, seeing her with a tray in her hands with a pair of mugs on it.  
  
“Do you know what’s inside that room?” Tony asked while pointing at the door.  
  
She shrugged her shoulders. “L---like he said. Our safe,” Julia answered, trying to hide her nervousness.  
  
Half an hour later, Coulson and Tony went back into their car.  
  
“I have the feeling he isn’t telling the truth,” Coulson suggested.  
  
“There are crystals in the secured room,” Tony blurted out. “And the girl is hiding something. She acted very nervous and suspicious.”  
  
“I did notice that.”  
  
Coulson looked at the villa and saw Julien Beckers looking out of the window. Coulson started the car and drove off.  
  
“We will go back to get those crystals. We need backup and a plan first,” Coulson said as he drove out of the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!

Julien saw the car leaving. He turned around and took a seat in his chair. A moment later, Julia came in with his pizza and gave it to him. She went to the bar and poured in a glass of red wine. She placed the glass on the small table next to his chair.  
  
“Do you know them?” he suddenly asked.  
  
Julia looked scared at him. He didn’t looked at her.  
  
“N—no, sir.”  
  
“Don’t…. lie,” he growled.  
  
She took a deep breath through her nose, straightened her shoulders and said; “I don’t know these men. I swear.”  
  
Suddenly he stood up, tipped over the little table and grabbed the collar of Julia’s shirt.  
  
“No lies!” he screamed, as he pulled her closer to him.  
  
“I’m not lying!!” she yelled back.  
  
She grabbed his hand to pull him away from her. Suddenly a rush of energy went through her compared with memories in her mind.  
  
_Witnessed the abuse of her mother by Julien_  
_Her deceased mother lying in bed_  
  
A small explosion blasted them apart. They both fell to the floor. Julia screamed out her pain as the memories continued flashing in her mind.  
  
_Being abused by Julien_  
_Julien screaming at her_  
  
Then the memories faded away. Julia stopped screaming and panted as she was still on the floor, eyes closed and her head covered with her arms. Julien sat up, looking around confused and slightly dizzy. His cell phone went off. He grabbed it out of the pocket of his pants and answered it. He just listened. While he listened, he stood up and went into the secured room.  
  
A few seconds later, Julia opened her eyes. She rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling, wondering what had happened the past few minutes. Then the doorbell went off. Carefully, Julia stood up and stumbled to the front door. She opened it and saw Peter standing on the doorstep.  
  
“Hey, are you okay?”  
  
Julia opened her mouth but nothing came out of it. Tears welled up in her eyes. Peter looked worried at her.  
  
“Something happened?”  
  
Julia shook her head, still looking for her words. Inside her mind she was fighting against a panic attack.  
  
“What did I say about those classmates of yours?” they heard a male voice.  
  
Julia looked over her shoulder and Peter looked along her. They saw Julien standing in the hallway with a suitcase in his hand.  
  
“Well?” he growled.  
  
Julia looked back at Peter.  
  
“Go,” she whispered to him.  
  
Peter looked confused at her.  
  
“What’s wrong?”  
  
“Please go,” she begged softly and closed the door.  
  
She turned around, glanced at Julien and quickly went upstairs to her room.  
  
Outside, Peter looked at the front door of the villa for a few seconds and left the front yard. When he walked in the street of her home a black SUV passed by. Suddenly his Spidey-sense went off. Quickly he turned around and saw the SUV stopping at the villa.  


* * *

  
  
Julia was pacing in her room, fighting a panic attack.  
  
“What to do? What to do?” She asked herself, scared and frantic.  
  
Then she remembered what Peter told her, _You need to get out of there for your own safety_! She grabbed her school backpack and threw it upside-down above her bed to remove out all her books. She went to her closet, took out some random clothing and stuffed it in her bag. She rushed to her window and opened it. Carefully she climbed out of the window and sat in the window frame. First she threw out her bag. Then she took a deep breath and jumped. With a grunt she landed in the grass of the backyard. She grabbed her bag and ran away.  


* * *

  
  
Meanwhile, Julien left the villa with the suitcase. The SUV stopped and opened the passenger door. Then on both sides of the street, police cars appeared and surrounded the SUV. Multiple agents got out of the cars and pointed their guns to Julien.  
  
“Stand still, Beckers!” Coulson yelled. “Place the suitcase on the ground and hold your hands up in the air!”  
  
Julien looked at all the agents. Slowly he crouched, placing the suitcase on the pavement but kept holding it by the handle.  
  
“Release the suitcase!” Coulson demanded.   
  
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Julia running out of an alley onto the streets.  
  
“She is the one you need!” Julien suddenly yelled as he pointed at her.  
  
While Julia was running she looked over her shoulder as she heard him yelling. When she looked back, a red and gold ironed robot landed with a thump in front of her. Quickly she stopped, turned around to run away, but lost her balance and fell. She remained laying down, in fear the Iron Man would hurt her. He walked over to her and looked down at her.  
  
“Please, don’t hurt me,” she begged.  
  
“FRIDAY, give me a scan of her bag,” he asked his AI.  
  
“Nothing but clothing, sir,” FRIDAY said as she was done with her quick scan.  
  
“Okay, Julia.” She sat up and looked scared at The Iron Man. “Where are the crystals?”  
  
“How do you know my name?” she asked.  
  
“We’ve met before,” Tony replied as his mask went upwards to reveal his face.  
  
Suddenly a creature in red-blue spandex landed behind her.  
  
“Mr. Stark, wait! She is on the good side!”  
  
“Kid, please,” Tony sighed as he looked at Spiderman. “Let me do the job.” He looked back at Julia. “Now, answer my question, where are the crystals?”  
  
“Are you HYDRA?” she asked scared at both strangers.  
  
“Do we look evil to you?” Tony remarked offended. Julia looked scared at him. “We are on the good side.”  
  
Julia closed her eyes, swallowed away her fear. She took a deep breath.  
  
“If you mean the blue crystals, it’s in a fridge in the secured room. The code of the lock is 1959,” She opened her teary eyes. “Please don’t tell him I know. He will kill me.”  
  
Tony closed his mask and was ready for lift off.  
  
“Wait!” Julia suddenly said. Tony waited. “If… if somebody says ‘hail HYDRA’, what does it mean?”  
  
“It means the person is a part of it,” Tony explained.  
  
Her eyes widened in fear. Behind his mask Spiderman looked concerned at her.  
  
“Are you okay?” Spiderman asked her.  
  
She looked at him, then along him to the end of the street, at the event with Beckers.  
  
“He’s HYDRA,” she whispered. When Iron Man heard her whisper he immediately took off into the air. She looked at the Spiderman. “You must be Spiderman? From YouTube?”  
  
“Yes, I am. Don’t worry. We will protect you.”  


* * *

  
  
At the other side of the street, Beckers was still surrounded by the SHIELD-team and the police. He was still holding the suitcase. He looked up into the air as Iron Man hovered above him. Iron Man held up his right hand as his palm bright up.  
  
“Release the suitcase. Carefully,” he demanded. Beckers didn’t move. “Last warning.”  
  
Beckers fingers released the handle, but kept his hand above it as he stared at Iron Man.

* * *

  
  
Meanwhile, Spiderman swung through the window of the secured room. He landed on the carpet of the room. He turned around and helped Julia, who crawled through the broken window.  
  
“He won’t be happy about the window,” Julia said as she jumped into the room.  
  
“We will pay for it,” Spiderman reassured.  
  
Julia walked to the library cabinet and kneeled down. She noticed the fridge was empty. She looked at Spiderman.  
  
“It’s empty,” she said, slightly shocked. She then remembered Julien standing in the hallway with a suitcase in his hand, a few moments back. She looked at Spiderman. “The suitcase.”  
  


* * *

  
Julien was still in the same position. Iron Man got impatient and landed in front of him. They kept looking at each other, while the agents still had their guns aimed. Suddenly a string of spiderwebs glued on the suitcase and was quickly pulled into the air. It all went so fast and Julien could do nothing but follow it with his eyes. The suitcase flew to the roof of the villa, into Spiderman’s arms. Next to him was Julia. Julien saw her and anger boiled in his veins. She could see the anger in his eyes, from a far distance. It made her scared and she hid behind Spiderman.  
  
“He won’t hurt you,” Spiderman reassured her.  
  
Iron Man flew towards them.  
  
“Kid, give me the suitcase,” Tony said as he hovered in front of them.  
  
Without hesitation, Spiderman moved the suitcase to Iron Man. Julia saw the window of the back door of the SUV sliding down and revealed a muzzle of a weapon, aiming at the heroes. Before Iron Man could take over the suitcase, Julia made her move.  
  
“Look out!” she screamed out as she pushed Spiderman away.  
  
Quickly Iron Man turned around, saw the weapon and flew off to the direction of the weapon. The weapon fired a bullet and grazed Julia’s shoulder. Spiderman lost his balance because of the push and dropped the suitcase. He fell off the roof into the bushes of the front yard, while Julia and the suitcase slid off the other side of the roof.  
  
The SUV spun his wheels and Julien jumped into the car. The agents fired their guns as the car smashed some police cars and drove off, followed by a few police cars, Coulson and Iron Man. Spiderman crawled out of the bushes and noticed the cars were gone. He shot out a web onto the gutter and swung himself onto the roof. He looked down into the backyard and was shocked by what he saw.  
  
“Oh my god!”  
  
He jumped off the roof into the garden. He looked at the suitcase which was had fallen open caused by the fall, showing a few broken crystals and Julia’s body covered by a skin made of rock. He fell on his knees next to Julia and touched her shoulder. He shook it a little bit and the rocky body moved by the shook. He panted slightly while anger boiled in his veins. He stood up as tears welled up in his eyes, feeling he could do nothing more to save her life. He turned around, shot another web and swung off.  
  
A moment later, the rocky skin fell off Julia’s body. First thing she did when she was freed, was grabbing her shoulder. She felt some fluids on her shirt. She pulled downside the collar of her shirt to look at her wound. But there was nothing. Then she heard a clicking sound. She looked around her shoulder and saw a muzzle of a weapon. Behind the weapon was a soldier. Julia could only stare at him in fear. He moved his finger to the trigger.  
  
Suddenly Julia threw a piece of rock at his face. It hit him and the soldier slightly bounced back. She ran away from him. When she passed him he grabbed her arm and pulled her back, causing her to fall on the ground. Then he went on top of her, growling some words to her in a language she didn’t understand.  
  
“_Ne __posmel ubezhat_.” (Don't you dare to run away)

  
“Get off me!” she warned as she tried to push him off her.  
  
But he did not listen and kept sitting on her. The soldier grabbed her wrists with his gloved hands and held them next to her head. He smiled at her.  
  
“_Ty __krasivaya __devushka_.” (you are a pretty girl)

  
“What are you saying?” she asked scared. “Can’t you speak English to me?”

  
The smile on his face became a big grin. He leaned over and placed his lips over hers. Suddenly his energy drained out of his body and Julia’s energy level went up. The soldier released his lips from hers. He laid a hand over his forehead while he felt dizzy. Julia remembered the blasts when she touched Julien and Tony Stark. Quickly she grabbed him by the jaw. More energy rushed out of him into her. Julia kept on holding him, waiting to be blasted apart. Slowly his skin became pale and his eyes rolled back into his head. She saw it happen and released him. His body fell limp into the ground, pale face and blue lips. In shock she looked at her hands while she was taking her breath.  
  
“You are very fascinating, young lady.”  
  
Julia turned around quickly when she heard another unknown voice. A black silhouette of a man, caused by the sun, was standing in the garden. He walked up slowly to her.  
  
“Not many people could survive these transformations,” he told. “Only the strongest will survive this.”  
  
“I’m not strong,” Julia said determined but scared, as she crawled backwards when the man came closer. She was driven into a corner and couldn’t go anywhere else.  
  
The male silhouette stopped walking as he was close to her feet and looked down at her.  
  
“You are so special,” he said friendly. When he came closer to her, the silhouette formed into the man with the round glasses. Julia’s eyes grew in fear as she recognized his face from a picture she has seen in Julien’s room. He crouched in front of her. “Please, let me help you,” he offered as he reached out his hand.  
  
“No. No, no, NO!” Julia panicked as she crawled away from him.  
  
She stood up and ran away from him. She went through the door of the fence into the alley behind the villa. At the end of the alley she went around the corner. Suddenly she stopped as she saw a group of soldiers aiming their guns at her. The same uniformed soldiers as the one she had…. killed. She looked over her shoulder and saw another armed group of soldiers at the other side.  
  
“Gentlemen please,” she heard the man saying behind her. She looked at him and he held his hands up to the armed men. He gestured to them to put the guns down and they did. “This young lady has no evil potentials.” He and Julia looked at each other. “Please let me introduce myself, young lady. I am Daniel Whitehall. Me and my team will protect you from The Avengers.”  
  
“The Avengers?” Julia asked confused.  
  
“Those two suited men are no good. Come and I will bring you to safety.”  
  
“But….”  
  
“I have promised her to take care of you,” Whitehall cut her off  
  
Julia’s heart skipped a beat when he mentioned the word ‘her.’ She looked away from him. She stared at the pavement while she was thinking.  
  
“Well?” he asked gentle.  
  
She looked back at him and nodded. He smiled at her.  


* * *

  
  
Cars racing through the streets, the black SUV at the front followed by the police cars and Iron Man in the sky. The SUV moved from left to right while driving at a high speed. A few agents were shooting out of car windows at the tires, without any luck. The SUV drove into an alley. The first police car miscalculated, hit the wall and caused a blocking of the alley. The SUV left the alley on the other side. Iron Man flew above the car. The people in the SUV shot at him in the air. The bullets chanted from his suit.  
  
“Will they ever learn that ordinary bullets won’t put me down when I’m in my suit?” he sighed.  
  
He passed by the car and landed half a yard in front of the car. The driver pulled at the steering wheel. The car moved quickly to the right, balanced on two wheels and started to flip. It tolled a few times and hit a tree. It landed back on four wheels. The car suffered lots of damage. The bonnet had been wrinkled by the flipping. Smoke escaped the engine. Iron Man walked slowly to the vehicle. While he walked, Spiderman landed next to him.  
  
“Is he still inside?” the young Avenger asked while he walked with his mentor.  
  
“I guess so. Why?”  
  
“I have to talk to him.”  
  
Suddenly the car exploded. The explosion blasted Spiderman away, while Iron Man could stay on his feet by the weight of his suit. Spiderman landed on the asphalt. He and Tony looked up at the burning car, while Agent Coulson ran up to them.  
  
“FRIDAY?”  
  
“I have detected four bodies in the vehicle. All four are deceased,” FRIDAY informed.  
  
Peter pulled off his mask to breathe properly. Tears welled up in his eyes. Tony turned around and walked to Peter.  
  
“Where’s the girl?” Tony asked.  
  
“Where is the suitcase?” Coulson then asked.  
  
Peter looked up at them as tears ran down his face. Coulson felt sorry for him as he saw the sadness in his eyes.  
  
“She’s dead. I guess,” the boy mumbled sadly.  
  
Coulson heart sunk into his guts.  
  
“The suitcase?” Tony asked again, gentle this time.  
  
“It’s next to her. Damaged by the fall. It had blue crystals in it. Some of them are broken.”  
  
“Shit,” Tony suddenly said and flew off back to the villa, leaving Peter behind, confused.  


* * *

  
  
It was quiet in the car. Julia stared out of the window, watching the cars on the other side of the highway passing by. She hadn’t spoken since they left. She moved her head to look out of windshield and saw they were heading to the airport.  
  
“Where are we going?” she asked.  
  
Whitehall looked at her and answered, “To a safe place.”  
  
“Where is the safe place?”  
  
“The Swiss Alps.”  
  
She looked shocked at him.  
  
“What? No! I can’t go there! I have to go to school!” she started to panic.  
  
He placed a hand on her knee, which made Julia wince.  
  
“Don’t worry. Everything is arranged,” he reassured. Then he let go of her knee. “But first you have to learn your powers.”  
  
“P—Powers?” Julia stammered confused.  
  
“These Terrigan Crystals gave you portentous powers. I saw your demonstration on the soldier from a distance.” He saw the anxiety in her eyes. “Have no fear. We are here to help you. Everything will be fine.”  


* * *

  
  
Iron Man landed in the backyard of the villa. His mask lifted up as he stared at the broken crystals and pieces of skin made of rock. He looked around and saw a security camera hanging above the entrance of the villa’s garden.  
  
“FRIDAY, give me footage of that camera,” Tony required.  
  
“I’m sorry, sir. That camera is a dummy,” FRIDAY said.  
  
He pinched into his nose bridge, not believing what he heard.  
  
“Really?” he sighed.  
  
“Yes, sir.”  
  
“Great,” he mumbled. “Any visuals of where she could be?” he then asked as he released his nose bridge.  
  
“No, sir.”  
  
Spiderman landed next to him. He looked at the pieces of rock and noticed Julia was gone. He fell on his knees, crying. Tony could only stare at him, not knowing how to act.  
  
Coulson arrived through the sliding door. He saw the broken crystals, the rocks and the duo. Peter, kneeling and crying, and Tony, just staring at him not knowing what to do. Coulson walked to Peter, crouched next to him and embraced him, allowed him to sob in his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!

  
Half a day later, Daniel Whitehall and Julia arrived at the HYDRA headquarters in the Swiss Alps. She looked around as they walked through the facility, escorted by security. She saw armed soldiers in black and grey military uniforms, faces covered with masks. Although the soldier who harassed her didn’t have a mask. Scientists in long white lab coats were glancing at screens while taking notes on a computer or notepad. They passed through a corridor and entered a long hallway with cells. They stopped in front of a cell and one of the security guards opened it.  
  
“This is where you’ll stay,” Whitehall explained as the door opened. She looked scared at him and he noticed it. “Don’t worry, these are not prison cells. These are… luxury cells.” He gestured her inside.  
  
Julia stepped inside and looked around. It had a bed with a pillow, but no covers, and it held a desk with a chair, a closet and a mirror.  
  
“Make yourself at home. We will store your personal belongings,” she heard him say. She turned around and looked at him. Whitehall held out a duffle bag. “You can put them in here.” She took off her backpack and dropped it into the duffle bag. “Anything in your pockets?”  
  
Out of the pocket her jeans she took her cell phone, wallet and the keys of her home.  
  
“That’s all,” she said.  
  
“Passport?”  
  
“I have an ID card in my wallet.”  
  
He smiled at her.  
  
“Good.” He closed the duffle bag and gave it to one of the security guards. “Welcome to HYDRA.”  
  
Julia’s eyes grew big. She couldn’t believe she was now with HYDRA. She did her best to hide the anxiety from her face. She remembered what Peter and Ned told her.  
  
_They kidnap people, brainwash them and train them to be their soldier. They will torture you as a punishment._  
  
“We will examine you tomorrow in the early morning. I suggest you to have a good sleep. Anything else?”  
  
_They will even give you another identity._  
  
“I—I would like to have some paper… and a pen,” she requested.  
  
“Very well,” he said as he nodded.  
  
Without saying anything else he walked away. The security guard closed the door. Julia could hear him locking it. Whitehall and the guard walked through the hallway.  
  
“Burn her belongings,” he demanded the guard.  
  
She shuffled to the bed and sat on the edge of it. She stared at the floor. A moment later she heard the door being unlocked and opened. Another security guard stepped into her cell with a small piece of paper and a pen. Julia stood up and walked to him. She took the requested stuff from him. Quickly the guard left her cell. The door was locked again. Julia took a seat at her desk and started to write on the paper;  
  
_Your name is Julia Berger._  
  
She clamped the note into the frame of the mirror. She yawned and decided to go to sleep.  
  
The next day, Julia woke up in her cell. She sat up as the door opened and a masked soldier entered her cell. In his hands he was holding a pile of clothing and a towel. He kept standing still and looked at her. Julia stood up and walked to the soldier. When she came close to him he walked away. When he left the doorway he turned around and looked at her again.  
  
“Am I supposed to follow you?” she asked, scared.   
  
He just stared at her. Carefully she walked through the doorway. On her left she heard a machinegun clicking. On instinct she raised her hands.  
  
“_Pereyekhat_ (move),” the armed soldier demanded as he gestured with his gun.  
  
The soldier with the clothing started walking and Julia had no choice to follow him. The armed soldier walked behind them with his gun armed. As they walked further into the hallway, she heard more cell-doors opening in the background. When they got deeper into the facility, she heard screams. She stopped, but the soldier behind her pushed her forward with his weapon and she decided it was better to keep on walking.  
  
After a while they arrived in an area with shower stalls. She heard the water flushing from other stalls while armed soldiers stood in front of it, waiting till the person was done with his or her shower. The soldier in front of her stopped at an opened one. He reached out the clothing to her and gestured to go inside. She took the clothing and went inside. She closed the stall and heard it being locked from the outside. On a hook she saw a duffle bag. She took off her own clothing and placed them in the bag. She looked at the shower and just saw one button. Doubtful, she pushed it.  
  
The shower flushed on. She felt the lukewarm water covering her body. She washed her face and her hair. After a minute, the shower stopped. Julia pushed the button again, but nothing happened. After pushing it once again, she decided to dry herself off and put on the clothes the soldier had giving her, a black tank-top, sport bra and a black legging, no shoes or slippers. The door of the cabin suddenly opened right after she had put on her tank-top. She looked up scared. A few seconds the soldier stared at her, then he gestured with his head to follow him.  
  
They arrived in a laboratory. In the middle of the room Daniel Whitehall was standing along with a green haired woman. The soldier stood in front of Whitehall and the woman, held out his arms with clenched fists and said; “Hail HYDRA.” A shock of anxiety went through Julia’s body. Whitehall nodded at the soldier. Then the soldier left.  
  
“Welcome in HYDRA’s laboratory,” Whitehall welcomed Julia. He gestured to the green haired women next to him. “This is Madam HYDRA. She will train you to be a perfect soldier.” Julia’s eyes grew in fear. “But first we will examine you.”  
  
He gestured to a large metal table. Julia walked to it and sat on the edge. A scientist in a lab coat stood in front of her.  
  
“Check her vitals first,” Madam HYDRA demanded the man, with a severe Russian accent.  
  
The man placed a blood pressure monitor around her upper arm. The monitor went on automatically. Julia clenched her teeth as the brace went tight around her arm. The man placed two fingers on her wrist to measure her pulse beat. The brace released her arm as he removed his fingers. She was relieved that the tension was over.  
  
“Blood pressure 145 over 90. Pulse is 115 beats per minute,” the scientist informed, also with a Russian accent.  
  
Madam HYDRA smiled. “Nervous, young lady?” Julia swallowed and nodded. “Don’t be. You are in good hands. Lay down.”  
  
Julia did as she was told. The man went to a computer and pushed some buttons. The monitor of the computer fluttered on and a green pixeled face appeared. A small camera above the monitor started to move towards Julia.  
  
“Juliana Wilhelmina Berger,” a voice said with a severe German accent. She sat up in shock as she heard her complete name. “Born December 10th 2001.” She panted in panic. “No criminal reports,” the voice continued.  
  
“H—How do you know my full name?” she asked, terrified.  
  
“Our friend, Zola, knows everything. Don’t be afraid, young lady,” Madam HYDRA explained. “Ask him a question and he will know the answer.”  
  
“What’s my mom’s name?” Julia asked.  
  
“Wilhelmina Juliana Maria Elslander. Born June 13th 1961\. Died February 5th 2018,” Zola immediately answered.  
  
Julia swallowed. “Correct,” she whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek.  
  
“Anything else? Do you want information about your father?” Madam HYDRA asked. Julia shook her head, after she wiped away the tears of her eyes. “Good. I believe you came in contact with the Terrigan Crystals?”  
  
“I guess so,” Julia answered, numb as she stared ahead.  
  
“She did had her terrigenesis,” they heard Whitehall saying.  
  
“Interesting,” Madam HYDRA said as she raised her eyebrows. “What are your powers?”  
  
Julia shrugged her shoulders like she didn’t care.  
  
“Of what I could see, she has similar powers as Jiaying,” Whitehall explained.  
  
Madam HYDRA looked amazed at him. “Really?” He nodded. She looked back at Julia, who stared into a distance. “Interesting.” She looked at the scientist. “Prepare her for testing.”  
  
Julia’s head snapped up and looked at the woman.  
  
“Testing? For what?” she asked scared. Nobody listened. The scientist pushed her back, so she laid on the table again. He placed a few electrodes on her chest who were connected at a heart rate monitor. “What’s going to happen?” The scientist said nothing and placed some more electrodes on her body. She started to panic. “Tell me!”  
  
Madam HYDRA lost her patience, walked up to her and slapped Julia in the face with the back of her gloved hand.  
  
“Silence!” she demanded. “One more word and you’ll be punished.” Julia panted, looking away. “You belong to HYDRA now and you must obey!” She grabbed Julia’s chin and roughly moved her head to make eye contact. “Agreed?” Julia nodded. “Good.” She released her and looked at the scientist. “Continue.”  
  
The scientist nodded. He then placed an electrode on each of her temples. Again he slid on the brace of the blood pressure monitor around her arm. For half an hour he measured her heartbeat, blood pressure and brain activity. Madam HYDRA was pacing up and down while waiting for the test results. In the meantime, Whitehall walked up to them.  
  
“She is stable, Madam HYDRA,” the scientist informed.  
  
“Good,” she remarked as she looked Julia, who stared at the ceiling.  
  
Whitehall walked up to her, while she kept staring. With his bare hand he grabbed her chin. All of a sudden a rush of energy drained out of him into Julia. He held his breath in amazement and she gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. The monitors ran wild and started bleeping intensively. Madam HYDRA pulled Whitehall away from her, causing him to fall on the ground. Julia gasped for air.  
  
“Daniel, are you alright?” Madam HYDRA asked worried as she kneeled next to him.  
  
He looked at the green haired woman in astonishment.  
  
“I believe we have found a new test object for the new Winter Soldier Program,” he told her, with slight joy.  
  
They both looked at her, while she looked at them. Panting in anxiety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!

A few days went by. Ned and Peter talked with their school about coming back earlier to the USA because of ‘personal circumstances.’ Their school agreed and their project ended.  
  
Coulson also explained how the blue crystals, the Terrigan Crystals, worked and showed Peter the video of the metamorphose. Peter was kind of relieved she could be alive, however not knowing in what kind of state.  
  
They were now in Tony’s and Coulson’s Quinjet. Ned looked around the jet as they were flying high in the air. He had never seen so much space in an aircraft. Coulson explained him everything about the jet, while Peter and Tony had their conversation.  
  
“I’m worried about her,” Peter told Tony.  
  
“She can’t be trusted now, kid.”  
  
Peter bowed his head. A tear fell on the floor.  
  
“She didn’t deserved it. All the torture,” he sobbed.  
  
“Well…. that’s HYDRA. That’s their way of training their soldiers.”  
  
Peter’s head snapped up.  
  
“Julia isn’t a soldier! Never was!”  
  
“How do you know?” Tony suddenly asked him. “How well did you really get to know her in those 2 months?”  
  
“Well enough!” Peter snapped. Tony looked at him with his arms crossed over his chest. “Julia was the nicest girl you can imagine! She was good in science classes, in… in languages, in… uhm… Gosh! She was such a good student!” Tony kept on listening to his rambling. “And you know what? While she got beat up by her father…”  
  
“Stepfather,” Tony interrupted.  
  
“Who cares what he is! He beat her for every small mistake she made. And guess what? She still came to school because she wanted to escape that evil environment.”  
  
“Then why didn’t she ran away?”  
  
“She couldn’t!” Peter sighed and bowed his head again. “We offered her a place to stay but she declined.” He sobbed. “He wouldn’t let her go,” he whispered.  
  
“Well, believe it or not, Romeo… she can’t be trusted from now on.”  
  
Peter sighed again and finally gave in, reluctantly.  


* * *

  
  
She fell on the floor after being smacked against a wall. Moaning, she got on her hands and knees. Her arms started to tremble. Suddenly a male opponent grabbed the back of her shirt and legging, lifted her up and threw her away. With a grunt she landed on the floor, rolled over twice and laid still on her back, catching her breath. Madam HYDRA, Daniel Whitehall, Alexander Pierce and Brock Rumlow were watching her from behind a large window. They saw how Julia slowly sat back up.  
  
“You sure she’s the new Winter Soldier?” Pierce asked Whitehall.  
  
“Just give her time. She just got here three weeks ago. She’ll get better.”  
  
Julia wiped her bloody nose with her gloved hand and looked up at her male opponent. He was looking down at her. Suddenly she kicked him in the nuts. With a moan he bend over. Quickly Julia stood up and pushed him away. He fell on his side. She smiled and felt victorious on the inside. As fast as he could, he grabbed her foot and pulled it underneath her. Once again she fell and smacked her head on the concrete floor. He stood up quickly and placed his boot into her throat. She was gasping for air.  
  
“_Ostanovit_! (stop!)” a commander yelled. The man released her and backed off. Julia coughed as she took her breath. “_Privesti yeye v svoyu kameru_ (bring her to her cell),” the commander demanded at the soldiers, who were securing the doors.  
  
They went to Julia and grabbed her by the arms. She didn’t protested because she was in a lot of pain and very tired of the fighting. They dragged her to her cell and dropped her on the floor. After the door closed and locked, Julia crawled to her bed. She was happy to feel the pillow in her face. Slowly she was falling asleep.  
  
Suddenly, a splash of water threw her back into reality. She coughed out the water that she had inhaled and sat up in her bed.  
  
“Sleep is for the weak!” she heard Madam HYDRA say with an aggressive tone.  
  
“I am weak,” Julia remarked between the coughs.  
  
Madam HYDRA smiled at her and snapped her fingers. Once again, soldiers grabbed Julia by her arms and dragged her out of her cell.  
  
Whitehall, Pierce and an armed Rumlow looked up as Madam HYDRA showed up in the office with Julia behind her, still being dragged by the soldiers. Roughly, they threw her into the couch in front of a desk. Whitehall sat behind the desk with Pierce standing behind him. Rumlow joined Madam HYDRA while she stood next to the couch. She didn’t look at the men.  
  
“I want to tell you that Madam HYDRA and I are leaving this facility for a few months,” Whitehall explained. “In the meantime mister Pierce and mister Rumlow will guide you through your training. I hope you will be strong enough for your mission.”  
  
Julia still didn’t look, but did swallow out of anxiety. Whitehall stood up and left.  
  
“Can you please look at me?” Pierce asked as he took a seat behind the desk.  
  
Julia kept staring at her knees.  
  
“Look at me!” Pierce demanded with a loud voice.  
  
Out of the blue Madam HYDRA slapped Julia in the face, followed by a punch on the back of her head, using Rumlow’s weapon. Slowly, Julia looked up at Pierce while blood ran out of her nose.  
  
“You better obey or else you’ll be punished!” Madam HYDRA snarled quietly into her ear.  
  
Then she left as well. Pierce leaned forward with his hands folded. He waited a few seconds before talking.  
  
“I have seen your training and it’s not good,” he started. “Whitehall is a good friend of mine and I will fulfill our promises. He gave me the trust to make you a well-trained soldier for this project. But you should work harder.” Julia shook her head. “You have no choice. HYDRA will be your new life.”  
  
“No,” she whispered.  
  
“You better listen, girl. Or else…” Rumlow threatened.  
  
Julia stood up from the couch to run away but Rumlow punched her in the stomach, again with his weapon. She fell back into it and coughed with her arms over her guts. Rumlow looked at Pierce, who nodded at him. Then Rumlow looked at the soldier who were guarding the entrance. They walked up, grabbed Julia and dragged her away.  
  
In another room they pushed her into a chair. They restrained her with leather belts. Julia tried to pull her hands out of them but the pain in her body from the fight slowed her down. She looked at Pierce.  
  
“What are you doing to me?”  
  
Pierce didn’t answer her and kept looking at her as the scientist set her up. She looked desperate at Rumlow who walked closer to. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Enjoy your punishment.”  
  
The sparking metal plates connected with her face. She breathed fast as she felt the cold plates against her temples. Suddenly a wave of electricity rushed through her body. She screamed out her pain. She pinched her eyes closed. When she opened them again she saw the spirit of her mother, slowly fading away.  
  
“Mom? No. NOOOO!!” she screamed as another wave rushed through her veins.  
  
After a third wave she went limp in the chair, stared into nothing. Not knowing what happened, where she was and who she was.  


* * *

  
  
Peter laid in the upper bed of his bunk bed, he stared at the ceiling. A knock on his door.  
  
“Come in,” he mumbled.  
  
He was surprised to see Agent Coulson entering his room. He sat up.  
  
“Mr. Coulson?”  
  
“Hey kid,” the agent greeted him. “I was nearby, so I’m paying you a visit.”  
  
Peter jumped off his bed. He hadn’t seen and spoken to Tony and Agent Coulson since Julia was missing.  
  
“How are you?” Coulson asked.  
  
Peter shrugged his shoulders as he took a seat on the lower bed.  
  
“Okay. I guess.”  
  
The agent sat down next to him.  
  
“You sure?” Tears welled up in Peter’s eyes. “I know it’s hard to loose somebody you care about.” Peter could only nod. “How’s school?”  
  
“Busy.”  
  
Coulson sensed he wasn’t in the mood for talking and he understood. He patted the boy’s shoulder and stood up to walk to the door.  
  
“Mr. Coulson?” Coulson looked around his shoulder. “You know a lot about people of HYDRA, right?” He nodded. “What do you know about Julia’s father?” Peter asked curious.  
  
Coulson sighed and placed his hands in the pocket of his pants.  
  
“Julien Beckers wasn’t Julia’s father, but her stepfather.” Peter now understood why Tony said that word. “Julia’s biological father died during a bank robbery when she was just a baby. He was an agent of HYDRA, but was killed when he was off duty. Then her mother met Beckers. Four years ago he became minister of Foreign Affairs. He knew of HYDRA’s attacks before the government did,” Coulson explained.  
  
“Even about the attack in The Netherlands? During the royal funeral?” Peter asked. Coulson nodded.  
  
“Did her mother knew that…”  
  
“Her mother never knew he was HYDRA. All of their agents work undercover.”  
  
“What about the blue crystals?” Peter asked curious.  
  
“The ones we have found in The Netherlands and at their villa have been destroyed. There could be more of them, perhaps already in HYDRA’s hands.” Peter swallowed. “Who knows what she became caused by them. She could be a threat now.”  
  
“No!” Peter snapped. “She’s not!”  
  
“I said, she CAN be. We’re not for sure!” Peter kept his mouth shut. “I just can’t guarantee she’s the same person as when you met her.”  
  
The boy sighed. Then Aunt May entered the room while knocking softly. The men looked up to her.  
  
“Hi. Dinner is ready.” She looked at Coulson. “Would you like to stay for some bites?”  
  
“Thank you for the offer, but I have work to do.” He looked at Peter. “I’ll see you soon,” he said and left.  
  
Aunt May looked at Peter.  
  
“I’ll be there in a minute,” he said while he stared at the wall.  
  
She turned around and left. He took a deep breath and collapsed backwards into his bed. His mind was with Julia. It worried him what the crystals might have done to her.  


* * *

  
  
She opened her eyes. A bright LED-light burned into her eyes. She rubbed her hands, covered with black leather gloves, over her face, before she sat up. In the background she heard doors opening and closing, people talking, screaming and begging. Rubbing her neck, she tried to remember how she got here, in this room of 10 by 10 feet. At the other side of the room she saw a small closet, a desk and a chair. Above the desk was a mirror, with a note. She stepped out of the bed and walked to the desk, removing the note and read:  
  
_"Your name is Julia Berger. You have the power to absorb life from people by your hands…."_  
  
She looked at her left hand and removed her glove. She investigated her hand some more. Then her door opened and a soldier, with a laser-shotgun, entered her room while he spoke in Russian. Julia became scared not knowing what he said and she froze. The soldier grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the room. He placed her in line with other people. The line with people started to walk and she had no choice but to walk with them…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment!


End file.
